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Brønlund Jørgen (14.12.1877 - 11.1907)
Born in Ilulissat, Greenland in the family of a hunter, from childhood he was friends with Knud Rasmussen. In 1901 he received pedagogical education. In 1902 he went on his first expedition to Greenland - the so-called "Literary Expedition" under the leadership of Ludwig Mühlius-Eriksen. It was also attended by Danish artist and writer Harald Moltke , ornithologist and physician Alfred Berthelsen. The purpose of the expedition was to study the life and culture of the Greenland Eskimos, as well as the recording of their folklore. The expedition lasted until September 1904, its main tasks were completed. Travelers first worked in Western Greenland, and then crossed the ice on dogs on Melville Bay and reached the land of the Eskimos. This - as Rasmussen called it - the Kingdom of the North Wind, and established contact with this northernmost people of Greenland. Later, Brenlund went to Denmark. Here he studied drawing and painting under the leadership of Christian Tsartman and taught at Askovo in the largest folk school in Denmark. In March 1907, L. Mühlius-Eriksen, a topographer Heg Hagen and Brenlund, as a dog team driver and translator, went out to investigate an unknown area between the Land of the Duke of Orleans and the Land of Piri. They found that at 80° N the coast turns northeast to 81° 20' N and 11° 50' W (Cape Norost-Gunningen) and that there are two narrow fjords in this section, including Ingolfs (80° 35' N ), form a small peninsula Earth Holma. To the west of the cape, they discovered the Danmarks Fjord and, going deep into it, established the presence of a large northeastern ledge of Greenland - the peninsular Land of Crown Prince Christian. In the summer all three returned from Independence to Danmarks Fjord, but could not cross it, since the ice had already opened. The explorers were forced to camp on the west bank of the fjord, waiting for the ice to fall again. In the autumn they moved to the base. All this time, travelers were extremely limited in nutrition and fuel, by the end of August, eating almost only meat from their own dogs and rare prey from hunting. By October 19, after replenishing the reserves of the two previously established depots, the party reached the north coast of Mallemukfjord (north of Hovgor Island). At about the same time, the Toastrup party was on the southern coast, sent in search of them, but they could not meet, since they were separated by open water. The Mulius-Eriksen group could not overcome this obstacle. Heg-Hagen died on November 15, and 10 days later, Mülius-Eriksen died. Brenland was able, as a result, to reach the warehouse left by Toastrup a few weeks earlier, but he also did not have the strength to go further.
In March of the following year, the body of Brenlund alone was found with his notebook, and in 1910 some of the materials collected by them and sketches of Heg-Hagen maps were found. As follows from the diary of Brenlund, which he led on the institute, as well as from the later found records of Eriksen, the party reached the head of the “Independence Strait” (proving that it was a fjord), simultaneously discovering and mapping Hagen Fjord, as well as the Akademiya Glacier and Navy Cliff. The latest entry in Brenlund's diary: "... I can not go further because of frostbitten legs and total darkness ... The bodies of the rest ... about two and a half leagues from here. Hagen died on November 15, Mulius about ten days later. Jorgen Brenlund". The Brenlund Diary is now kept in the Royal Danish Library. The tomb of Brenlund is located in Lambert Land (now Greenland National Park). Fjord on Peary Land, Greenland. |
